HISTORY
The International Festival of European Youth Orchestras started in the year 1999 thanks to the EU grant Kaleidoscope ‘99 and to the longstanding relationship between Accademia San Felice the Town Hall of Florence, the Regione Toscana, the Province of Florence, the European Commission, and many other Municipalities in Tuscany, Umbria and Marche.
The aim of the Festival is to offer young European musicians a unique experience in Italy, with the chance to play in magnificent venues and to participate in an intense experience and full immersion of classical and contemporary music.
This Festival is a unique one in Italy, although it is in line with other youth festivals such as Salzburg and Aberdeen. Florence is one of the few cities in Europe to host such an event.
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GENERAL INFORMATION
The “Festival Internazionale di Orchestre Giovanili Europee” was born from the idea of giving young musicians from Europe and beyond the opportunity to participate in, learn from and enjoy an Italian musical experience, culminating in a total of 50-75 concerts distributed mainly throughout Tuscany. The festival hosts around 1.300 young musicians from the 15-20 participating youth orchestras.

The Festival is open to all international youth chamber and symphony orchestras, who are free to choose their own programs ranging from baroque to contemporary music. Eligibility for the Festival is assigned according to concert programme and musical level, but high standard youth groups are generally able to participate. During the Festival each orchestra performs three or four concerts. The first of these is held in our main festival venue in Florence - the beautiful church-concert hall Chiesa di Santo Stefano al Ponte (20 metres from the Ponte Vecchio) and the others in some of the most beautiful venues in towns such as: Lucca, Arezzo, Siena, Viareggio, Montecatini Terme, San Gimignano, Massa Marittima, Pisa, Padova, Montepulciano, Modena, Brescia, Perugia, Padova, Cortona, Spoleto, etc.
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VENUES
Our 200 or so venues throughout Italy have been carefully selected according to aesthetic beauty, historical attributes and acoustic qualty, ranging from open-air piazzas and country villas to churches, thatres and auditoriums. Each venue is equipped with stage, risers, lights, chairs, changing facilities and technicians for all concerts.
Please see "Past festival editions" for photographs and lists of venues.

CONCERTS WITH SOLOISTS
An important aspect of the Festival is the opportunity for the symphony orchestras to play alongside well known professional soloists both from Italy and elsewhere in Europe. This gives young musicians a marvellous opportunity to receive professional advice, learn new concepts of interpretation and benefit by playing together with and listening to top professionals of their musical field, giving an all-round experience that will be extremely useful in their future careers and musical development.
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SUPPORTING NEW WORKS
In the past Accademia San Felice and certain orchestras participating in our festivals have commissioned International young composers of contemporary music to write new works which are then presented as world premiers as part of the Festival. This is an initiative we are keen to develop and encourage, since it offers a marvellous opportunity for the young musicians to work, study and experience contemporary music in close contact with the composers.
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ESTIMATED AUDIENCE
We estimate that audience numbers range from 300 to 700 people for each concert, based on actual numbers for the past editions.
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SAMPLE ORCHESTRA ITINERARIES
TUSCANY (7 nights)
Day 1 Arrival in Tuscany and check into Hotel
Day 2 Day at leisure (beach)
Day 3 Rehearsal am + CONCERT in Montecatini, Terme Tettuccio Festival Internazionale di Musica Sinfonica
Day 4 Day + CONCERT in Arezzo, P.zza S. Domenico Festival di Orchestre
Day 5 Full day in Siena and S. Gimignano (Sightseeing)
Day 6 Day + CONCERT in Siena -Piazza del Campo/Chiesa di Provenzano
Day 7 Day +CONCERT in Florence Chiesa di S. Stefano Festival di Orchestre Giovanili Europee
Day 8 Departure


TUSCANY + UMBRIA (7 nights)
Day 1 Arrival in Montecatini Terme & check into hotel
Day 2 rehearsal day
Day 3 Day + CONCERT in FLORENCE, Chiesa di Santo Stefano Festival di Orchestre Giovanili Europee
Day 4 Day + CONCERT in AREZZO - Piazza S. Domenico Festival di Orchestre
Day 5 Transfer to Perugia & check into hotel
Day 6 CONCERT in SPOLETO - Piazza Duomo
Day 7 Day + CONCERT in PERUGIA - Church S. Domenico Musica dal Mondo
Day 8 departure


NORTHERN ITALY + TUSCANY (8 nights)
Day 1 Arrival in Brescia Area & check into Hotel
Day 2 CONCERT in BRESCIA - Courtyard Palazzo Borletto
Day 3 Full day in VENICE and CONCERT in Chiesa S. Stae
Day 4 Day + CONCERT in VERONA - Chiesa di San Zeno
Day 5 Transfer to Montecatini (Tuscany)
Day 6 CONCERT in MODENA,Giardini Estensi Musica sotto le stelle
or LUCCA, Chiesa di San Giovanni Lucca in Orchestra
Day 7 Full day in Siena & S. Gimignano
Day 8 Day + CONCERT in FLORENCE - Chiesa di Santo Stefano Festival di Orchestre Giovanili Europee
Day 9 departure


TUSCANY + UMBRIA + ROME (8 nights)
Day 1 Arrival in Montecatini (Tuscany)
Day 2 CONCERT in MONTECATINI, Terme Tettuccio Festival Internazionale di Musica Sinfonica
Day 3 Day + CONCERT in FLORENCE - Chiesa di Santo Stefano /Piazza della Signoria
Day 4 Transfer to Assisi
Day 5 CONCERT in ASSISI - Chiesa di San Francesco
Day 6 Day + CONCERT in PERUGIA - Castello Musica dal Mondo
Day 7 Transfer to Rome + sightseeing
Day 8 CONCERT in ROME - Vatican
Day 9 departure
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